Horrific domestic killing drove victim's kid sister to flee Canada: Court
Article content
Nicholas Johnson slaughtered a hard-working, innocent lover and drove her younger sister to flee from Canada to St. Vincent because she feared a similar fate, his sentencing hearing was told on Monday.
Johnson, 26, was convicted of second-degree murder for the horrific slaying of Virgil Jack in December and immediately started serving his life sentence. A term of parole eligibility — between 10 years and 25 years — still has to be set.
Recommended Videos
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Horrific domestic killing drove victim's kid sister to flee Canada: Court Back to video
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Crown attorney Allison MacPherson wants Johnson to serve 17 years before he can seek parole while Johnson’s lawyer Tony Bryant asked for 12 years.
Johnson stabbed the 31-year-old Jack 126 times before inflicting another 30 savage cuts. He left her dying or dead in the river at Derrydowns Park in North York on Aug. 18, 2017.
Jack faked a pregnancy to keep Johnson in her life. He was already involved with another woman, Elizabeth Owusu-Bempah.
All three worked at the same computer parts factory. Bempah had Johnson’s baby daughter in March 2018.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Johnson callously killed Jack because she was interfering in his relationship with Owusu-Bempah. He believed Jack was pregnant and couldn’t handle both babies, court heard.
Johnson’s crime shattered his victim’s family who described how they felt “tremendous stress, anger and pain” in their impact statements.
Jack’s sister, Sudah, said in her statement that her sibling’s savage death “came as a very huge, shocking surprise.
“I’m afraid to walk in these streets of Canada alone or with my daughter Nicole,” said Sudah Jack.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Fears that someone “may want to hurt us still haunts me … which led me to flee the country (to St. Vincent ) when she was murdered,” wrote Jack. “I have suffered post-traumatic stress disorder.”
“Virgil was a sweet, loving and caring person, daughter, sister and friend,” wrote Sudah Jack. “She meant the world to me and my daughter after her father neglected us, Virgil decided to take care of us as her own.”
“Virgil was not perfect but she was loved by her entire family,” wrote her mother Yvonne Charles. “She died alone but I will continue to carry her love in my heart forever.”
Psychologist Susan Moraes testified that Johnson “is diagnosed with an intellectual disability of mild to moderate severity and is therefore a vulnerable person” who is “gullible and can be easily taken advantage of.”
Despite his handicaps, Moraes said Johnson, “with the right support system in place. . . wouldn’t likely find himself in difficulty with the law again.”
Justice Faye McWatt will determine Johnson’s parole eligibility on April 3.
spazzano@postmedia.com
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.